people

The Foundation is governed by a board of trustees who meet regularly and set the overall strategic direction of the Scottish Policy Foundation. The trustees work with an Advisory Council which meets quarterly to set strategic policy areas of research and provide recommendations to the trustees on grant applications and awards.

advisory council

rt hon douglas alexander

The Right Honourable Douglas Alexander is currently a Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, and a visiting Professor at King's College, London. He is a member of the UK Privy Council, a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, and a Trustee of the Royal United Services Institute. Mr Alexander previously served in various Ministerial positions in the U.K. Government for nine years, and as a Member of the UK Parliament for eighteen years. Mr Alexander served as Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs, and Minister of State for Europe, Secretary of State for Scotland and for Transport. He also served as the UK Secretary of State for International Development leading over 2500 staff based in 39 counties with a budget of $10.6 billion and as UK’s Governor to the World Bank he negotiated successfully for reforms including additional representation for developing countries and decentralisation of bank operations.

rt hon dame elish angiolini dbe qc

Dame Elish is Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford, a Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, and the Chancellor of the University of the West of Scotland. She is a Visiting Professor at Strathclyde University Law School. During her extremely distinguished law career, she was appointed as Solicitor General for Scotland in 2001, before being appointed Lord Advocate in 2005, and serving under both the Labour and the SNP administrations in Scotland between 2006 and 2011. Dame Elish regularly conducts key public inquiries, the most recent being into deaths in police custody.

lord andrew dunlop

Lord Dunlop is a Conservative peer in the House of Lords. He was created a life peer in 2015 and was subsequently appointed Scotland Office Minister from May 2015 to June 2017. Prior to this, in 2012 he became a Special Adviser in Number 10 Downing Street, advising the Prime Minster David Cameron on Scotland, including during the time of the independence referendum. Earlier in his career he worked at the Number 10 Policy Unit under the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, covering such policy areas as Scotland, defence, and employment. Lord Dunlop is a member of the House of Lords Constitution Committee and a Board Member of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry.

jayne-anne gadhia cbe

Jayne-Anne Gadhia is Chief Executive of Virgin Money. She trained as an accountant and worked for Ernst and Young and the Royal Bank of Scotland before becoming CEO of Virgin Money in 2007. Jayne-Anne is known for speaking out on issues including women's equality, diversity in financial services and mental health. She led a review into Women in Finance for the Treasury in 2016.

lord john kerr gcmg

Lord Kerr is a former diplomat who became Permanent Representative to the EU (1990/5), Ambassador to the US (1995/7), FCO Permanent Secretary (1997/2002), and Secretary-General of the European Convention (2002/3). He has been an independent member of the House of Lords since 2004, and currently serves on its Economic Select Committee. He was Chairman of Imperial College London and Deputy Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell, and now is Chairman of the Centre for European Reform, Deputy Chairman of Scottish Power, and a trustee of the Refugee Council and the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland.

rt hon angus robertson

Angus Robertson is the Depute Leader of the Scottish National Party. He served as Member of Parliament for Moray between 2001 and 2017. Angus was SNP Campaign Director in its three most successful election victories: 2007 and 2011 Scottish Parliament and 2015 Westminster elections. He served as SNP Business Convenor (Chairman) for a number of years. Angus was Westminster SNP leader for a decade, including when it became the third party in the House of Commons in 2015. Appointed to the Privy Council by Her Majesty the Queen, he was a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee overseeing MI5, MI6 and GCHQ. Prior to being elected to Westminster, Angus worked as a Vienna-based journalist for the BBC and for the Austrian broadcaster ORF. A fluent German speaker, he received the Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for services to the Austrian Republic in 2016.

trustees

matthew benson

Matthew is a Director at Rettie & Co., heading up the Investment and Development teams, with particular focus on PRS and Affordable Housing. Matthew and his team developed the Resonance® funding model, which was awarded the Saltire Award for Innovation in Housing, and they are delivering 613 houses under the National Housing Trust. Matthew was founding chair of biotech businesses Ectopharma Ltd and Ryboquin Ltd; is on the boards of the Edinburgh Arts Festival and the volunteering charity, Project Scotland, which assists 5,000 Scottish volunteers; and is a non-executive director of Springfield Properties plc, building over £100m of housing per annum.

ANGUS MACPHERSON

Angus is Chief Executive Officer at Noble and Company Ltd. During his career he worked in London, New York, Singapore and Hong Kong, latterly as Head of Capital Markets and Financing for Merrill Lynch in Asia. He joined Noble in 2006 and was appointed chief executive in 2007. Angus is a Member of the Financial Services Advisory Board (FiSAB) which is responsible for developing the Financial Services strategy for Scotland, and is Chair of JP Morgan Elect Plc, Henderson Diversified Income Ltd, and Belhaven Hill School Trust Ltd.

director - alison moore

Alison became Director of SPF in June 2017. She has a background in both the political and charitable spheres, having worked for two Members of Parliament, as an International Officer for the Liberal Democrats building relations with political parties overseas, and as a grant and donor fundraiser for the Scottish children's charity Children 1st.

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